Mobile Browsing: It Will Get Better and Worse

Mobile browsing is rapidly consuming the Internet. The smartphone and tablet lifestyle is replacing laptops and desktop computers as the primary way we go online. While we may have shifted where we consume the web, our expectations are to have the same full, rich experiences on our mobile devices as we have had on PCs.

Given the limited processors and slower bandwidth of cellular networks, mobile devices have traditionally been served with poor user experiences. Dedicated mobile sites rarely have feature parity with their full site counterparts and their UIs could generously be called an afterthought. More often then not, mobile users are hunting for the ‘Full Site’ link in the footer just to make the site usable. It’s almost impossible to estimate the amount of sales eCommerce sites have lost due to mediocre mobile experiences.

Luckily, the builders of the web are beginning to take notice. Mobile first is a strategy of many emerging companies. More existing sites are making mobile a top priority. Responsive design is leading this revolution, by allowing the same content to be displayed differently on screens of various sizes. Developers no longer need to split their focus or re-implement features from a full site to its oft-forgotten mobile cousin.

Here’s the rub, though. We’re building ever more powerful and feature-rich websites. These web applications rely on client-side JavaScript frameworks that are hungry for more processing power on the device and stable Internet connections – two things mobile devices are generally lacking. Users want photo slideshows of the latest news, high-resolution images of products they’re thinking of buying and live updates to their social network streams. They’re not willing to compromise simply because they are on a mobile device. Nor should they.

Right now, the mobile platform is as fragmented as the PC platform. Mobile developers have to work with devices of different sizes, operating systems, browsers and hardware. Like their web development counterparts, these developers can wax intellectual endlessly about the hacks, tweaks and nuances required to make their sites fully functional. Understandably, most users are simply unaware of the mastery going on behind the scenes to make everything work seamlessly.

With all these new variables being introduced, the transition from a PC-driven to a mobile-driven Internet is bound to have some bumps in the road. We’re quickly coming to a place where smartphone and tablets are going to be the way to go online. Mobile device processors and cellular networks will get faster. New tools and technologies are being introduced to make mobile development a simpler process.

Soon we’ll have an entire generation who uses the Internet solely from their "mobile" devices. When this happens, the term mobile will simply be an anachronism (if it’s not one already). In the meantime, developers will keep pushing the bounds of mobile, making the trip a bumpy one. The inevitable destination will be well worth the journey.

Chris Kelly is the Developer/Evangelist at New Relic, makers of web application performance tools. He is an active Rubyist and Open Source advocate.